Fukigen na Mononokean Tsuzuki

I see. Aoi-dono's gone.

Yes. I'm the master now.

That must be hard for you.

The previous employee seems to be gone now, too.

Previous? Do you know something?

I only heard Aoi-dono mention him.

Before he became an employee...

He was a dangerous fellow who killed and imprisoned yokai.

But I only heard about it after he was gone.

I'm glad you're the master now, Itsuki.

Let me introduce you.

This is Chunichi.

This is Chunji.

This is Chunzo.

This is Chunyon.

And this is Chungo.

Who's who?

All five of 'em have finally grown this large.

Before, I wouldn't exorcise them because I thought

they wouldn't be able to acclimate to the change in environment,

but now there's no problem at all.

Oh, good! This'll be a load off my shoulders.

Hear that, boys?

You're going to the Underworld.

Mystery 11 "The Return"

We should get ready.

Oh, I forgot to mention that

only four of the five brothers have made preparations to go to the Underworld.

Chungo doesn't need to be exorcised. He's not ready yet.

What preparations?

He has a crescent pattern. That'll be easy to remember.

He's the only one who still can't fly.

But you can walk to the Underworld.

There shouldn't be a problem exorcising him.

I know that.

But if he can't keep up with his brothers in the Underworld,

he'll hold them back.

I see.

But it'd be sad to leave just one brother behind.

He doesn't seem to be smaller than his brothers.

Is there some other problem, such as the way he flies?

If I knew, I could teach him.

I told them they couldn't be exorcised until they learned to fly.

I've been making them practice every day.

His brothers could fly right away,

but for some reason, Chungo falls immediately when he tries.

At this rate, there's no telling when he'll learn to fly.

Komon-dono.

Could you show me how they fly?

Shall we head to our usual practice area, then?

Practice area?

Abeno-san!

Can you hear me?

I'm ready!

His voice easily reaches the bottom of the ravine.

What is he, a siren?

Can you hear me?

If you can hear me, wave your hand!

Go ahead and start practicing!

I had them practice flying up to the bridge.

Unlike the top of the cliff, there's no wind here.

Wind?

It's the perfect place to practice flying without being blown around.

The bridge is swaying!

I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared!

It seems to be gusty up there.

Be careful not to get blown away.

Chungo-dono, you as well.

Is he serious?

Why don't we start by practicing flapping?

Abeno-san is flapping...

Good grief.

Looks like he still can't fly.

I guess, like Komon-san said,

we'll just have to exorcise the brothers separately.

I doubt Chungo-san wants to be left behind.

I hope he learns to fly soon.

Boys, hold on tight!

The wind's blowing!

Boys!

Oh, right.

They've all learned to fly.

I'm glad Chungo wasn't up here.

Whoa!

Komon-san!

Abeno-san, help!

Huh?

The crescent pattern?

Huh?

Chungo!

Chungo's flying!

Could someone who couldn't even flap his wings a moment ago suddenly be able to fly?

"You can't go to the Underworld unless you learn to fly."

I knew it.

So that's what that meant.

Be careful you don't take too good care of them.

Abeno-san?

Hey! Stop fighting!

What are they arguing about?

I don't understand them, either.

Abeno-san?

I don't know, either.

But I know more or less why they're fighting.

It's because Chungo-dono was pretending he couldn't fly.

What?!

What? Is that true, Chungo?

But you're the one most bothered by your inability to fly.

Why were you pretending you couldn't?

Probably because Chungo-dono thought he could stay

in the mundane world if he couldn't fly.

Be careful you don't take too good care of them.

Aoi-dono told me to be careful

not to take too good care of them.

I never quite knew what that meant, but now I do.

It seems that I took too good care of them

and made the mundane world a comfortable place to be.

Comfortable, huh?

Komon-san watched over them well, but it backfired.

All right, I've decided.

I'll abandon my home and move.

Move?

Without this home, they'll have no place to return to.

Then they'll have to go to the Underworld.

There's no time like the present.

I'd like to get packed up as soon as possible,

so lend me a hand, Mononokean.

Go faster.

Okay, I get it! Stop pushing me!

Don't toss things off the cliff!

What? But that's what I always do.

Humans have rules for disposing of garbage?

How inconvenient.

Their gazes are killing me.

This is where they grew up, after all.

I know it's hard to watch it be destroyed, but we have no choice.

What's this?

Now, that brings back memories!

So that's where it's been.

Komon-san, do you wear this?

Not me, the boys.

Before I built my nest,

I kept them inside it so they wouldn't get blown away by the wind.

Oh? Looks like you boys remember, too.

They love it.

I'll hold on to this instead of throwing it away.

No, we're throwing it out.

I don't need it anymore.

I'll secretly give it to them later.